Jeep’s reputation as a manufacturer of go-anywhere, do-anything vehicles is unquestioned. Jeeps have literally been through wars. Thousands of hardcore owners routinely punish them over the world’s harshest terrain. But as the SUV has evolved, so has Jeep. And while every Jeep from the Compass on up remains Trail-Rated, the farthest off-road many of them go is a gravel parking lot.

The day began behind the wheel of a Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Summit with Chrysler’s 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 under the hood. The Overland Summit is the top tier Grand Cherokee, loaded to the gills with both luxury equipment and off-road kit, including Jeep's Quadra-Trac II four-wheel drive, its Selec-Terrain system, and its Quadra-Lift air-suspension system. Leading the posse through the dirt trail was a Jeep engineer behind the wheel of a Compass, followed by a duo of Wranglers, a Patriot, myself, and another Grand Cherokee, with another Jeep rep in a Liberty bringing up the rear. Each Jeep would have to traverse trails with steep climbs and descents, frame-bending ruts, and even a bathtub-like obstacle. Jeep instructed us to engage low range, and for good measure I raised the Grand Cherokee's air suspension to its off-road height, while leaving Selec-Terrain in Auto.

The trail started up a gradual dirt incline that quickly became steep and littered with foot-deep ruts that had the front left and back right tires of the Grand Cherokee see-sawing back and forth. No matter, though, the Grand Cherokee kept truckin' -- as did the rest of the Jeeps in my group. As the elevation climbed, the ruts got even worse, but the Grand Cherokee kept scrambling up the trail without so much as breaking a sweat.Once over the top, the trail suddenly dropped what felt like at least 45 degrees, down a steep, rocky, washboard surface. Time to try out hill descent control. I pressed the button, and manually downshifted the automatic transmission to control how fast I wanted hill descent control to let me go. I pointed the Grand Cherokee towards the decline, took my foot off the gas and brake, and let the Jeep do its thing. Letting the Grand Cherokee work its way down the hill without any footwork required was an odd feeling. As I headed down a decline so steep it felt like the only thing holding me in my seat was the seatbelt, the vehicle crawled down that decline with no driver intervention. It was quite an experience.

After pulling back into the staging area, I was about to hop into a Compass when I noticed the Grand Cherokee SRT8 was free. Compass or 465-horse Grand Cherokee with a 6.4-liter V-8 under the hood? The choice was easy. I hopped in the super SUV (SSUV?) and headed for the tarmac of Mulholland Highway. Like the Porsche Cayenne Turbo, the Grand Cherokee SRT8 just shrinks around you, making it easier to thread through the highway's famous tight turns. The best part about the Grand Cherokee SRT8 is its mean, raspy exhaust note. I blasted through a tunnel on my way back to the event's staging area, and the SRT8 sounded so good I had to turn back to do it again.After the Grand Cherokee SRT8-supplied adrenaline blast, I was ready for more off-roading, and the Skittles-green Wrangler Rubicon (complete with a six-speed manual) was my ride of choice. I initially was apprehensive driving the manual-equipped Wrangler off-road. The limited amount of off-roading I'd done prior was in automatic-equipped SUVs. Turns out my worries were completely unfounded -- as is the case with most all driving-related activities, a manual is just better. The open-top Wrangler Rubicon was a fantastic companion on the trail, and as expected it didn't break a sweat over the route.With the day ending, there was only time for one more trail run. I decided to get behind the wheel of the Liberty, the beloved Cherokee's spiritual successor that will undergo a transformation in the near future.

While its plastic-riddled interior, aging, 3.7-liter boat anchor V-6, and four-speed slushbox may make the Liberty far from desirable on-road, off-road was another story. The Liberty conquered everything without issue. Its only demerit would be its ground clearance, or lack thereof. It seemed to scrape just thinking about rocks. Thankfully, the Liberty's Trail-Rated badge means it was wearing underbelly armor, preventing any punctures and damage.The Wrangler was far and away the most capable vehicle I sampled at Jeep's full-line drive. It’s the vehicle of boyhood dreams (well, mine, at least), an American icon. It’s immensely fun to drive off road, and most important, it makes you feel like you're a 10-year-old behind the wheel.But the Grand Cherokee impressed me the most because of what it represents. This is a vehicle more likely to be found in suburban mall parking lots, or shuttling kids to early morning hockey practice. Jeep could have mailed it in and fitted it with a simple all-wheel-drive setup that would have satisfied 99 percent of its buyers. It decided to deliver the mail instead. The Grand Cherokee is just as capable of getting down and dirty as the Wrangler. Jeep is painfully aware of its iconic status as an off-road-focused brand, and continues to engineer every one of its vehicles to be immensely capable in that area. As Jeep continues its transformation to more of a mainstream brand, here’s hoping things will stay that way.To see the Motor Trend WOT Video about this Jeep event, skip to 1:30 below.

Couldn't agree more. I wheel the crap out of my XJ on a normal basis and the one thing I have never lacked with the 4.0L is power and reliability. I would rather rebuild and replace it after the normal life span of 300,000 miles than buy a new "jeep." The new lines disgust me and when I see a new GC with chrome wheels and chrome step bars and so on, I laugh and cringe at the same time KNOWING that vehicles with real capability are being replaced or shunned because it doesn't get the best MPG. One person I know just bought a new 2012 GC fully loaded out the door for $58k and he took one look at my 13 year old XJ and asked me if he was ripped off. Which is why I don't know how one of those "engineers" can proudly say that they are a "Jeep engineer."
One final thing to say... BRING BACK THE 4.0L and FULL AXLE CHEROKEES!

I own a 2007 Rubicon and the Only complaint I have is the engine and power. The Rubicon is such a great Jeep to take offroad it almost makes things too easy to conquer. I have owned everything From CJ and up and even one 4 cylinder YJ, and those are considered the scourge of jeeps, the V6 in the 2007 is only marginally better than that old 4 banger. I also own a TJ with the 4.0L, what a difference in offroad experience. I have to ask as I have many times, Why are we cut out of the Diesel market since the JK were designed specifically around the Diesel engine for the rest of the work?? There is the Torque everyone is looking for and the longevity of the engine. WHY?? I am just waiting for the engine to die so I can get a better engine swap.....I have to say the seat are nicer in the 2012 though, but thats just me. Just thoughts from a loyal Jeep buyer........

Jeep has gone to crap. I'm a mechanic by trade. I have worked on wranglers and Cherokee's and grand Cherokee's. The grand models have been crap for the most part. Electronic issues and many transmission issues. My personal favorites are CJ 7 and grand wagoneers, and j trucks. I guess I'm old skool. But I also have worked on many new vehicles. New jeeps are pure crap. Junk junk junk........ They got rid of the best part of modern jeeps. The Inline 6. The v6 both versions. Are a damn joke and still have many issues. Plus new wrangler are just plain old wrong. Beat parts on those rigs are the manual transmissions, transfer case ( rubicon models.) And the axles. Take the rest and bring it to the local scrap yard. Use the " good" parts and build a prior series wrangler/ CJ .

I find it disturbing that comments are apparently being deleted? Is Jeep now a proponent of the Patriot Act!? I have loved Jeep from early childhood, have owned fistfuls of them, and still have 3. The ugly truth is this (and what will likely get this comment deleted); The inline 4.0L engine should have never been replaced, at least not by the trash under the hood of every wrangler from 2007 on up (JK's). The 4.0L inline engines provide almost as much torque at 1K RPM as they do when tach'd out, which is intrinsic to an inline configuration of the internal combustion engine. The 4.0L engine is incredibly superior to the Pentgram, sorry, Pentastar engine. They replaced the inline 4.0 for what reason? To improve fuel effeciency by ONE MILE PER GALLON!? ARE YOU F%#%^# KIDDING ME? I was a Jeep fan all my life (and even worked for them for many years) until they did this. This is not just my opinion; anyone who s$%t from shinola about off roading, engineering, internal combustion engines, etc knows this is the the vile truth. Google it, it is plain to see, and there aren't even 2 sides to this argument. People in the know/har core off roaders buy branf new Jeeps and rip the P.O.S. engines out and replace them with inline 4.0L's. I used to pledge allegiance to Jeep, now I am sick at this atrocity. I have lots of $ to spend, but I will NEVER AGAIN BUY A NEW JEEP UNLESS THEY GO BACK TO AN INLINE CONFIGURATION ON THE WRANGLER. JEEP, I USED TO SALUTE, YOU... BUT I AM SICKENED BY WHAT YOU HAVE DONE, AS ARE THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY OF OFF ROADERS. JEEP, YOU HAVE OSTRACIZED YOUR FOLLOWING, AND EARNED OUR BITTER DISRESPECT. MAKE IT RIGHT OR GO DOWN IN FLAMES.

Agreed! We've been wheeling our '06 Liberty for 5 years and it's just recently been retired from daily driving. Our Liberty has taught us to be smarter off-road drivers and still takes us everywhere we want to go, and I'm talking about Moab and the San Juans, not the neighbor's mudpit back field.
We get a lot of flack for wheeling our Libby from "hardcore" off roaders. Then we pick our line, take the hill, and laugh as we look back and see their jaws drop.

It was no Rubicon but I was impressed with the Compass and Patriot nonetheless. That said, while the Wrangler, Grand Cherokee, and Liberty didn't seem phased by the course, the Compass and Patriot were certainly closer to their limits.

jeeps are awesome :D though IMO they should have something like a Micro Wrangler, a new CJ series, being jeeps are often turned into ORVs that are no longer legal on the roads. why not a side by side utility? it could be very much inspired by the original Willis MB if that was the case.

Oh, come on Seabaugh!
A Jeep engineer lead in a Compass. Well that pretty much says all you need to know about how tough the course was.
To paraphrase Maxwell Smart, "That's the third time this year I've fallen for the old put the least capable vehicle in the lead to make the rest seem really great trick."

EVERY Cherokee, Grand Cherokee or Wrangler I've ever driven can do amazing things off road, which is one of many reasons the Liberty SUCKS A$$ IMHO and should be replaced with a new generation, off road capable Cherokee (my preference) or turned into a light off-road capable (of about the same ability as the current Liberty, which isn't nearly as off-road capable as a traditional rwd based SUV should be) Crossover (probably the best choice to increase sales).